While few areas of the world are immune from extremism, France feels its impact more than any other European country, an unenviable distinction that lies at the heart of President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to streamline the organisation of Islam.
As a source of jihadist fighters enlisting with ISIS and similar groups in Middle Eastern conflicts, as well as in terms of death and injury caused by repeated terrorist attacks, France has suffered disproportionate levels of social turmoil.
The challenges faced by the president – and community leaders who sometimes seem at a loss to offer effective guidance – go beyond questions of countering radicalisation.
Academics as well as Islamic figures recognise a glaring need to make young French Muslims feel a sense of belonging in a society riddled with racism and mutual suspicion.
But it is the hard statistical evidence of extremism that preoccupies the currently dominant centre and right of French politics, widening a fierce intellectual divide on causes and effects. [The National] Read more
